The New York Jets have finally parted ways with the Sam Darnold project, trading the quarterback to the Carolina Panthers for three draft picks. This ends speculation of a number of teams reportedly being interested in the 2018 third overall pick. That included the Washington Football Team.
However, it appears Washington wasn’t very interested in Darnold after signing Ryan Fitzpatrick near the start of free agecny last month, according to JP Finlay of NBC Sports.
Washington was named to be in the Darnold sweepstakes even after Fitzpatrick, despite ESPN’s John Keim debunking the rumors.
What’s more interesting is that Finlay notes Washington was “not looking for a reclamation project.” Instead Darnold will go to Washington head coach Ron Rivera’s former team the Carolina Panthers, looking to resurrect his NFL career away from the woeful Jets.
After winning the NFC East division title last season despite starting four quarterbacks, Washington got in the market for a long-term answer. They just missed out on the Matthew Stafford sweepstakes. They’re search landed on Fitzpatrick.
With the team picking 19th overall in the first round of this month’s draft, Washington appears to be just out of reach of the top five marquee quarterbacks. Thus, they’re moving forward with a quarterback competition between Fitzpatrick, Taylor Heinicke and Kyle Allen.
Rivera said last week he is no in rush to find a franchise quarterback. Instead, they’ll build the roster until they get their opportunity to land a prized signal-caller. Darnold didn’t fit the build.
